Chapter 6. The Teacher Representing Christ
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It is a great advantage to have clear and definite thoughts of duty. Many people seem never to have any very serious views of life. They do not know for what purpose they are in this world, what their mission is. Indeed they never give any earnest thought to the matter. They appear to have no conception of the responsibility of being in this world.
Many live as if there were neither God nor man nor Devil--as if there were neither moral law, nor human accountability, nor divine judgment. But too many others who even call themselves Christians and who recite their creed on every opportunity seem also to live almost as indifferently as these. They have no thought of their relation to the kingdom of Christ, of their place as redeemed ones, belonging to God, or of their duty as Christians to do Christ's work in the world.
Not many even godly Christians seem to understand their personal responsibility as coworkers with God, as helpers of Christ in saving the world. It is important that those at least who as teachers are earnestly desirous of doing their part in guiding others, should have a clear conception of what they are to do and how they are to do it.
The mission of Christians in this world was very clearly defined by the great Teacher, when he said to his disciples, "As the Father has sent me, even so send I you." That is, we bear the same relation to Christ that he bore to the Father and we are sent by Christ. What a dignity, sacredness, and a seriousness it gives to our life, to remember that we are sent from Christ and for him! We are not in the world in any mere haphazard way, or on any mere chance errand; we are sent from God. It follows that we represent him who sent us: we are his ambassadors; we speak for him. This is true not only of ministers, those who are ordained to the holy office; it is true of every Christian, and especially of those who are called to teach others the truths of divine revelation.
Our mission, too, is the same as was that of Christ. He was called the Word. A word reveals thoughts. Our friend stands before us silent, and we know not what is in his heart. Then he speaks, and his words tell us what his feelings are. The world could not know the thoughts that were in the heart of God. No man could go up to heaven to see God. Then God sent his Son — the Word — to reveal his thoughts, and men learned that God is their Father, with a father's love, care, tenderness, compassion. They learned also the divine mercy and grace. For three years Jesus went about speaking in human language great thoughts about God and showing in his life the dispositions, affections, feelings, and character of God. We, too, in our little way, are to be words of God, revealing what is in the divine heart. As Jesus said, "He who has seen me has seen the Father," we should be able to say, "He who has seen me has seen Christ."
This teaching puts upon us a sacred responsibility. Wherever we go we must be as Christ. Christ is no more here in his own humanity — we are now the body of Christ. He does not go about doing good, but we are to go about and do what he would do, if he were here again. We are to be Christ to others, and we need to watch our life, lest sometimes we misrepresent him. We should never give a wrong interpretation of any thought, feeling or spirit of Christ.
It is part of our work as Christians to do the work of Christ. For three years he went up and down the land, speaking the words of God, doing the works of God. Those were wonderful days. Then he died on a cross. How he must have been missed when he came no more to the people's homes! What a blessing his ministry had been, with its miracles of healing and its common kindnesses which cheered and brightened so many lives! The world needed just such love amid its need, pain and sorrow. How much poorer this earth seemed when it was known that Jesus was dead, that he would go among the sick and troubled no more! What a pity it seemed that such a ministry should cease!
Yet it did not cease. Jesus went away himself, but he had trained his disciples to do the gentle things he himself had been doing for three years, and now sent them out to continue the ministry. It is the mission of Christ's followers, wherever they are, to do the things that Jesus would do if he were here. We cannot perform miracles, but we may do many Christly things. His love should ever be in our hearts, revealing itself in whatever forms a helpfulness the human needs about us may require.
"Is your father at home?" a gentleman asked a child, on the village doctor's doorstep.
"No, sir," the boy answered; "he's away." Where do you think I could find him?"
"Well, you've go to look for him some place where people are sick, or hurt, or something like that. I do not know where he is, but he's helping somewhere."
If one had been seeking for Jesus in Galilee, he would have found him where people were sick or distressed in some way. He was always helping somewhere. By the same mark his disciples should be known in any community. They should always be helping someone, comforting sorrow, giving cheer, encouragement, strength. Thus the ministry begun by Christ, nineteen hundred years ago, in the little country of Palestine, should go on wherever the followers of Christ are found.
Especially should those who are set to be teachers of others in spiritual things, carry out this part of the Master's commission.
They represent Christ and it is not enough that they tell in words the meaning of Christ's gospel; they should also, in their own lives, truly and faithfully represent Christ as a minister of good, a giver of help, and a dispenser of blessing.
It is part of the mission of Christians also to help Christ to save the world. He was sent to redeem the lost. He gave his life in service of love to lift up the fallen. We are exhorted to have the mind in us which was also in Christ Jesus — the love which brought him from glory. We are not sent as he was to die on the cross; one atonement was sufficient. Yet we are to have the same love for the lost that he had. Instead of taking us to a cross it should lead us into a life consecrated to the saving of the world. We never can be as Christ was in the world, and continue to live for ourselves. Service is the key word of the Christ-life service, even to sacrifice. We must lay down our lives in love, whether it be in living or dying.
These are hints of the meaning of the words of Christ when he said that as the Father had sent him, so he sends us. What he was to the people among whom he went in his large way as the Son of god, we are to be to those among whom we move in our small way as his followers. We are his apostles as he was the Father's Apostle. We are to reveal him in our lives as he in his life revealed the Father. We are to continue the ministry of love which he began. We are to give ourselves for the world as he gave himself on Calvary.
All this may seen discouraging. The responsibility of representing Christ and being to the world in any measure what he was may appear to be too vast to be met by any human soul. But there was something else which Jesus said which makes us ready to take up our burden. Immediately after defining the relation of his disciples to him and to the world, he breathed on them and said, "Receive the Holy Spirit." Without the empowering of the Spirit, they never could have been in the world what he had been. The Holy Spirit is in one sense the same as Christ returned to earth. Instead of living now in one human body--he lives in every believer. Thus he is really continuing his own ministry in his people. The love that is in us, is but the love of Christ beating in our heart. The holiness that we attain is but the holiness of Christ reproducing itself in our lives. The beautiful things that appear in our characters — love, joy, peace, long suffering, meekness — are but the graces of Christ wrought in us by his own indwelling — the fruits of the Spirit, as Paul calls them.
We never can have these qualities in us unless we receive the Holy Spirit. No mere human culture can produce them. They are fruits which do not grow on the stalk of nature. We can do the works of God only if God be in us. But that is what it is to be a Christian. "Christ lives in me," is Paul's description of himself as a believer. There is no other true definition.
How can we receive the Holy Spirit and thus have the divine life in us? The word "receive" answers the question. The Spirit never will be forced upon us; we must receive him. It requires an act of our own. We can shut him out of our lives if we will. In receiving the Spirit we must surrender everything to him. He must be admitted to rule, to guide, to sway all the life.
An Old Dutch picture shows a little child dropping a cherished toy out of his hand. At first one does not understand why he does this, but close observation shows, at an upper corner of the picture, a white dove which is flying toward the empty, outstretched hands. The child has dropped the toy to receive the dove.
Ofttimes our hands clutch things which are dear, things which we have toiled hard to gain. But there is something better, — "Receive the Holy Spirit" are the words which fall from the lips of Christ. Shall we not gladly drop out of our hands any possessions, any pleasures, anything, in order that we may receive the dove of peace?
People talk about having to give up so much to become Christians; but do they give up much? Or is the giving up to be compared with the receiving? Is the man making a sacrifice who drops his work tool--to take gold, silver and precious gems? Shall we talk of giving up, when we let go our toys and glittering trifles, to receive the Holy Spirit? Were the first disciples losers when they left their nets and boats and homes and went after Christ--to find homelessness, persecution and martyrdom? It seemed a loss but they dropped out of their hands only a few poor, perishable things--to receive imperishable riches, honors and glories.
We should never hesitate, therefore, to yield our lives to the Holy Spirit, whatever emptying of our hands it must take to prepare the way. To receive the Spirit is to let God take us, that he may bless us and use us in being as Christ to a weary, suffering and sinning world.
Those who would lead others into complete surrender, into fullness of blessing, into nobleness of confession, themselves need all the fullness of God, that they may truly represent the Master in the world.
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